Bring Out Your Dead: The Great Plague of Yellow Fever in Philadelphia in 1793 (Studies in Health, Illness, and Caregiving)

In 1793 a disastrous plague of yellow fever paralyzed Philadelphia, killing thousands of residents and bringing the nation's capital city to a standstill. In this psychological portrait of a city in terror, J. H. Powell presents a penetrating study of human nature revealing itself. __Bring Out Your Dead__ is an absorbing account, form the original sources, of an infamous tragedy that left its mark on all it touched. Today, as fatal outbreaks of infectious diseases continue to confound the medical community worldwide, this account of one city's struggle in the face of overwhelming odds has particular resonance.

In this psychological portrait of a city in terror, J. H. Powell presents a penetrating study of human nature revealing itself. Bring Out Your Dead is a fascinating account, from the original sources, of an infamous tragedy that left its mark on all it touched. Readers of this compelling narrative will encounter an unusually graphic depiction of the daily life and society of an early American city. In their introduction, Kenneth R. Foster, Mary F. Jenkins, and Anna Coxe Toogood illuminate how much has changed in the city of Philadelphia--but how little has changed in the potential spread of any disease.

"A ghoulishly fascinating history of Philadelphia's great plague. Historian Powell's conscientious grubbing among the records pays off with a cumulative effect of horror and heroism seldom found in the most artful fiction. As the fever took hold. . . . Food ran short and starvation stepped in behind disease. Prices of coffins skyrocketed. . . . The dead lay everywhere and the living dared not come near them. . . . In Philadelphia that summer of 1793, plague had unloosed panic; panic had enlarged and hardened the latent core of man's inhumanity to man."
--Time

"A distinctive feature of Powell's book, apart from its literary merit, lies in the fact that it is definitely localized as to time and place; a brilliant case study of the visitation of the scourge in Penn's city. . . . The style is clear and forceful, with a wealth of historic allusions that add richness and flavor."
--American Historical Review

"Mr. Powell tells his story authoritatively and exceedingly well; for he has read widely and writes with unusual clarity and grace, filling his pages with vivid and human accounts of benumbed Americans exhibiting their greatest talent--improvising solutions of problems in the face of great danger. . . . The book is, in sum, a brilliant and model treatment of one of the most macabre incidents in American History."
--New York Herald Tribune

"Unique in its weaving of the timeless aspects of human behavior with an authentic account of a major epidemic in American and medical history, this book is carefully researched and a very good read."
--Nursing History Review

"Dr. Benjamin Rush is a strange kind of hero. He gave his patients powerful cathartic doses and bled them heavily, sometimes actually recommending bleedings to take out more blood than was there. . . . [Rush] was also wrong about the cause of the fever . . . as well as about the treatment. . . . [But] Powell does his best for his hero, writing, 'Panic is cured not by reason but by firmness. Rush was firm in his course, firm in his assertions, and the very firmness of his presence in the shuddering city brought hope, courage and reassurance to men who had been paralyzed by panic.'"
--New York Times

John Harvey Powell (1914-1971) graduated from Swarthmore College in 1934 and earned his Ph.D. in American History at the University of Iowa in 1936. In 1945, he became Director of Research at the 52nd Street Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia. Kenneth R. Foster is Associate Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania. Mary F. Jenkins is a Supervisory Park ranger and the Supervisor of the Dolley Todd Madison House and Visitor Center at Independence National Historical Park. Anna Coxe Toogood is Park Historian at Independence National Historical Park.

This classic work, originally published in 1949, has been reprinted for the 200th anniversary of the yellow fever plague in Philadelphia. Today, as outbreaks of infectious diseases continue to confront the medical community worldwide, this account of one city's struggle in the face of overwhelming odds has particular resonance. This is also a psychological portrait of a city in terror. It presents a penetrating study of human nature revealing itself, as told through original sources, of an infamous tragedy that left its mark on all it touched. -- Publisher description In 1793 a disastrous plague of yellow fever paralyzed Philadelphia, killing thousands of residents and bringing the nation's capital city to a standstill. In this psychological portrait of a city in terror, J. H. Powell presents a penetrating study of human nature revealing itself. Bring Out Your Dead is an absorbing account, form the original sources, of an infamous tragedy that left its mark on all it touched. Contents List of Illustrations Introduction to the 1993 Edition Preface to the 1949 Edition Acknowledgments “A Merry, Sinful Summer” Infection in Water Street Fever, Domestic and Foreign Prevention, Personal and Civic Crisis Panic “This Excellent Physician” Bush Hill The Committee “Sangrado” The Fugitives Height of the Plague Frost Afterwards Notes Index